A little bit of everything, a whole lot of nothing.

Thoughts on Questland

Recently I’ve been on a bit of a kick with mobile games. Clash Royale has been and will be my game of choice for the foreseeable future, but I have been branching out looking for something different to play when I need a break from CR (or get frustrated with it). The other day I posted about Idle Apocalypse, which felt like a game that I’d rather enjoy until I found out that it’s just an endlessly repeating loop and there’s no real traceable progression. I have since deleted it and resumed my search for the next great mobile game (to me). One thing I’ll give Idle Apocalypse credit for: it forced me to watch advertisement videos, and one of the ones I watched piqued my interested. Enter Questland.

Questland is a rather deep, multi-faceted game. One part RPG, one part clicker, one part idle game, and one part turn-based RPG. The tutorial for the game will get you started with the basics, but there’s technically still a tutorial going on and I’ve played for a few hours. New bits and pieces open up as you level your character, so there’s always something new to check out. Honestly, you’ll probably be inundated with information at first, I know I felt a bit overwhelmed until I played for a while. First they’ll send you to the barbershop to customize your character, and then you’ll be thrust into the campaign which takes place on a rather large map, with each location having several levels or phases contained within. Initially it feels laughably easy, but the difficulty does turn up a notch as time goes on, but you’ll be countering that difficulty with gear upgrades of which there are multiple facets as well.

There are multiple currencies, some which will allow you to purchase items for the normal item shop, others that are used to upgrade gear, others still that are usable at a number of specialty shops that open up over time. Levels come pretty quickly as you complete quests and battle through the zones. Speaking of combat, let’s take a look at that.

Pictured here are a number of bosses that I have faced in my short time with the game. Each zone will contain 5-6 (to the point I’ve experienced) battles, each having three phases. You’ll walk along a path in first-person, coming to a group of mobs. You’ll tap the screen to attack and they will attack back in a turn-based fashion. Your basic attack also gives you a mana build up, which can then be used to cast spells. Currently I have a single target Fireball, an AOE Blizzard and a Healing spell. They aren’t really necessary just yet but I assume later you’ll have the option to upgrade them or procure different spells. Outside of combat there are a shitload of different screens which you’ll use to buy/sell/upgrade and perform other tasks.

New buildings in the town open up as you progress, and there are events and guilds and a ton of stuff to check out. Like most mobile games these days, there are lockboxes and wheel spins that will give you more gear, currencies and items. Of course this also means there is an RMT shop, and gems are this game’s premium currency. There is also a $2.99/month subscription that gets you a bunch of bonuses. The good news here is that the currencies seem to add up rather quickly, and I haven’t spent any real world money to have a great time so far.

The bundles seem relatively cheap, and there are special offers that provide huge bonuses so I’d say if you like the game you should probably throw the devs a few bucks. I might in the future if this one holds my interest long enough. As of now I’ve cleared 4 or 5 zones but have only scratched the surface of the game’s map. I’m approximately level 12 at this point. It’s a nice little RPG-lite experience and I’ve rather enjoyed it so far.

Like most modern RPGs, there are color-coded bits of gear. Each piece can be further upgraded using some of the in-game currencies, and it seems as you gain character levels you can also upgrade your gear further. The best gear in the game appears to be locked to crafting, which requires collecting parts of the gear piece (most have been around 30 individual pieces) and then merging those to get the item. Most of the pieces earned have come from chests, but certain levels will show you that there is a drop chance for gear pieces, so they can be farmed to get what you need. Also something typical of mobile titles, each level has a star rating which correlates to how many actions you take to complete all of the phases. Most have required under 20 actions to get a 3-star (max) rating and you’ll gain further rewards for earning all of the stars available on a level.

That’s all the information I can provide at this time. I have applied to a couple guilds but have not been accepted to one yet, so I’m not sure what benefits they bring. I participated in one event and won, but then the 2nd stage kicked my ass so I think that might be more end game content. There are also still features that are level locked at this time so it will take me a bit to get to where everything is opened, but I really like this game so I can report back later once I have more knowledge. I would still recommend this to anyone look for something else to play on their phones, it’s pretty damn good. Scratches the MMO itch without requiring the commitment.